Harlequin's Yuletide Cheer
by OmnipresentNuance
Summary: On Christmas Eve, Luan makes it her mission to spread some Christmas cheer to her family all day long. However, her little brother appears to be the only one who isn't as receptive nor is he in the best of moods, causing her to gradually get more worried as to what's bothering him and hopes to cheer him up somehow.
1. Spreading the Cheer

_**How's it going, everyone? Merry Christmas Eve! I've got something a little special for you all this time around.**_

_**In addition to this being a Christmas-themed story just in the nick of time, it's also my first multi-chapter story! Well, technically it's only two parts, but still, more than one chapter any way you look at it. At first, I was kind of adverse to the idea of doing a two-shot, two-parter or however you want to phrase it, because I used to have this silly, binary way of seeing things where I either only did one-shots or multi-chapter stories with at least three chapters in them. However, I came to the realization that the only way this one will work was if it became a two-part endeavor. That, and it'll be more palatable in this format as opposed to being a huge one-shot. **_

_**Finally, for those who are wondering, the use of the word "harlequin" in the title is a reference to the number of other words that are used to describe Luan like "joker", "jester", "prankster", "clown", "comedienne" and such. Since it's essentially another word for "clown" or otherwise a comedic character, I thought that's what I go for and I think it flows nicely in the title.**_

_**Okay, with all that said, let us journey through this most seasonal of written experiences!**_

_**The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.**_

* * *

It was 7:00 in the morning on one chilly December day. Snow had covered up the town of Royal Woods as another gentle snow shower had begun.

Inside the confines of the Loud house, Luan rose up from her bed, stretched herself out and yawned. She got up and looked outside the window to see the aforementioned snow shower and smiled at such a pretty sight. That smile of hers would only get bigger when she looked at the nearby calendar to see that today was Christmas Eve, the day that perhaps was more exciting than Christmas itself, as eager anticipation would reach a fever pitch for when that big day would finally approach.

For Luan, though, there was another reason for her to be excited on this day. Without telling anyone in her family in advance, she was going to spread her variety of Christmas cheer to them through all sorts of special means, and she didn't waste any time in starting things off.

Turning around, Luan glanced over to the top bunk bed where Luna was still asleep in. She had her portable CD player to the side and her headphones loosely around her neck. This was a change from last night when Luan distinctly remembered her rocker sister having her favorite seasonal CD, "A Very Mick Swagger Christmas", blasting away into her eardrums well into the midnight hour. But apparently at some point afterward, Luna had her fill of Mick's dulcet yuletide crooning and finally crashed into sleep eventually.

Luan chuckled slightly as she stared at her sleeping sister. There was pretty much no other CD Luna would listen to during the Christmas season, and between her CD player, her stereo and even the CD player within Vanzilla, it's amazing how it never melted into a silvery goo as a result of how much usage it gets this time of year.

That CD would also be the first of a two-part surprise Luan had in store for Luna, though this first part was a spur of the moment kind of deal.

With a devious smile, Luan carefully approached Luna and ever so gently put the headphones back over her ears. The comedienne then went to turn the CD player's volume all the way up and pushed play.

"GAH!"

Like clockwork, Luna's eyes shot open following her stunned scream. She was so unexpectedly roiled by the early morning audio assault that she instinctively rolled over to her left, only to fall right out of bed and with her landing right on Luan being the only thing cushioning her fall to a degree. Admittedly, being a human crash pad wasn't part of the surprise Luan had plotted.

After taking a second to regain her bearings, Luna sat up and realized her headphones were back on, but now no music was playing. She looked over, ignoring the fact that she's laying on top of Luan, to see her CD player had also taken a tumble and the impact had eject her beloved Christmas album out, too. She rushed on over to check and make sure the CD player itself was still in working order and with that confirmed, she hurriedly did a once over on the CD, sighing in relief upon seeing no serious damage to it.

"Phew, still in rockin' condition..." Luna said, thankful that it wasn't ruined.

She gathered up everything that had fallen and placed it aside, then she looked back over and only just now saw Luan on the floor as she was in process of sitting back up.

"Nice of you to _drop_ in, sis." She said with a modicum of laughter.

"Huh…?" Luna uttered confusedly, but then she slowly began putting two and two together, "Wait, did you…?"

"Give you a nice little early morning Christmas Eve jolt? _Yule _better believe it!" Luan admitted to.

"Dude, what the hey? Were you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" Luna asked, her face scrunching up irritably.

Luan shook her head, "Nah, it's not like I was going into this thinking 'Hmm, I could come close to giving Luna a heart attack, but that would really _ticker _off' or anything like that."

The further laughter of her sister wasn't making Luna's mood any better as she groaned and then took a moment to steady her nerves from this aural prank, something Luan obviously picked up and felt was a good time to perform part two of her plan.

"But in all seriousness..." She said, standing up and brushing herself off, "Since you're awake, I can now give you this..."

Luan walked past Luna and right over to the storage case where her ventriloquist dummy, Mr. Coconuts, was typically put away in. She popped the case open, reached inside the dummy's mouth and pulled a small object out. And because she couldn't help herself, Luan took a moment to put in a quick little "talk" with him.

"About time you took this thing outta me, toots!"

"Hey, it's one of the few places I knew Luna would never look inside!"

"I'd have a bone to _pick_ with you right now for this whole ordeal, but in the Christmas spirit, guess even us dummies can forgive and forget. You better hope what you're giving your sister will _pluck_ at the _strings_ of her heart."

"Shh, don't spoil things just yet!"

Putting Mr. Coconuts back inside the case, Luan returned over to Luna and extended her hand out.

"Consider this both an early Christmas gift and something of an apology for waking you up suddenly, too." She said sincerely, "Normally I wouldn't be for giving any gifts before Christmas, but I'm gonna make a very special exception here."

Luan opened up her hand and showed off a guitar pick. It had a red and green striped pattern on it, which on the one hand seemed pretty basic and universal, but also gave out a festive motif as well, so it can work on both fronts.

Luna took the pick into her own hands and stared at it for a moment. She looked up to face Luan, and like the comedienne hoped for, the rocker smiled and reached out to embrace her sister.

"Guess sisters can also forgive and forget too, huh?" Luan said, returning the hug.

"On occasion, maybe." Luna teasingly replied, "But really, ribbing aside, thank you, Luan."

"You're welcome. I know it's not much, but it's what I could do for now before the big day tomorrow." Luan said right as she pulled out from the hug.

"Hey, no prob, brah." Luna said in response, "I have to admit to something, though. That little wooden dude of yours is right in that this does pluck at my heartstrings. I'm always gonna be a sucker for anything relating to music, no matter how small."

Luan smiled and patted Luna on the shoulder, "Now that was definitely something I was aiming for."

Both shared another quick hug before Luan peered out of their room. Lucky to see no line forming for the bathroom, she gathered up a set of clothes and went about getting a shower.

Once she was done and ready for the day, Luan went back to her room so she can get right back to work with her goal of spreading Christmas cheer to family. She rummaged through her closet to retrieve her favorite accessory to wear during this time of year, that being her reindeer antler headband. In addition to that, she got another accessory in the form of a little red nose. Unlike her clown nose that shared a similar shape, this one had a brighter veneer indicative of a certain famed fictional reindeer known for his radiance.

With both accessories put on, Luan next would check through her dresser and pulled a smaller pair of those same accessories, then exited her room again and quietly made a path for the one where Lisa and Lily resided. The door was already open slightly, so she gently pushed it further open.

Upon Luan looking inside, she noticed the absence of Lisa, but did see her next target in the form of Lily. She crouched down and stealthy came over to the side of her baby sister's crib. She slowly peered over as she watched Lily still be sound asleep in her lilac onesie.

For another couple of minutes, Luan waited patiently until Lily began to stir herself awake. When the baby's eyes fluttered open, she was in for quite the festive surprise.

"Hey, Lily!" Luan softly said cheerily as she revealed herself fully.

Looking at her older sister with her reindeer-based apparel, Lily smiled and giggled.

"If you think what I have on is cute...wait until you see _this_!"

In a flash, Luan put the smaller antler headband and nose on Lily, then took out a handheld mirror and held it up in front of her. Seeing her reflection in the mirror with all that on made Lily become fascinated and usher in some more laughing as well.

"Aw, you look so adorable, my _deer_ baby sis!" Luan joked with a joyful laugh.

Soon after, Lisa had came back inside while biting into a candy cane.

"Ah, greetings, my decade older sister." She said, "To what brings you here?"

"Good morning, Lisa! Just getting my little reindeer all _decked_ out for today!"

Luan picked Lily up from her crib and showed both themselves off to the bespectacled genius, who didn't really seemed fazed by what was before her.

"Hmm...isn't that a little bit over the top?" Lisa opined skeptically, "Or as some on the street would say in this season of festivities, a bit tacky?"

Luan raised her eyebrow, "Tacky, huh? That's not really a nice thing to say, especially about this little one right here."

She raised Lily up in the air a bit, causing the littlest of the Loud clan to babble happily and wiggle her limbs around, but Lisa still wasn't impressed.

"You I totally expect having such gaudy accouterments on for this season, but Lily on the other hand...mm, I don't know." She said, shaking her head.

"Wow, you're really in rare cynical form today, aren't you, Lis?" Luan said disappointingly, but a grin formed on her face quickly afterward, "Luckily, I bet that I've got something that even my science-based sis here will get a kick out of!"

Luan cradled Lily with one arm and took a few seconds to balance her properly.

"Okay, Lily, like we've been practicing in private for the last several days. You ready?"

Lisa finished off her candy cane and then folded her arms as she awaited what could possibly be about to unfold before her. Luan cleared her throat, took a deep breath and a had a big smile on her face as she burst into song.

"_We wish you a Merry Christmas,_

_We wish you a Merry Christmas,_

_We wish you a Merry Christmas..."_

"An a appy oo ear!" Lily wrapped up in her own baby gibberish way.

Luan was simply overjoyed, "Yes, you nailed it! Way to go, Lily!"

She hugged her baby sister and kissed her cheek.

"So, what did you think?" Luan asked as she looked back over to Lisa.

The second youngest sibling appeared contemplative, taking in what she had witnessed. She adjusted her glasses and was about to express her verdict.

"I still think the accessories are bit much..."

Luan had a frown form on her face and Lily didn't seem to feel much better.

"However..." Lisa spoke up again, now having a little smile coming across, "I must confess this tune does have its whimsy and did its job in putting some of this, as some may say, cheer of the Christmas variety into the circulation of my system."

"See, I told ya!" Luan said happily.

Happy with two more family members imbued in Christmas cheer, Luan made her way out, still with Lily in her arms. As she was going down the hallway, Luna began emerging from the bathroom having finished up with her shower and getting dressed.

"Hey, Luna, mind if you take Lily down with you?" Luan asked as she approached her sister.

"Sure thing, dude." Luna said back.

Right as she turned around, Luna noticed the accessories adorning the faces of both her sisters.

"Well, not surprised to see you all decked out for the occasion." She said to Luan, then she addressed Lily, "And what did she do to you, Lilster?"

"Hey, it was needed so that me and Lily can be a matching pair in order for our duet to work out like we just did for Lisa." Luan explained, "Though right now I don't think she needs these on."

"Whoa, what's this about a duet, now?" Luna wondered with a sense of intrigue, "Mind if I catch a listen to it?"

"Maybe later on. I've got a lot of work to do for the day ahead." Luan answered.

She would then hand Lily over to Luna, took the tiny antlers and nose off of the baby and went back to her room for a moment.

After stowing away Lily's accessories, plus at the very least taking off the red nose of her own, Luan heard a thumping noise, something akin to someone falling down or something similar. Wondering who or what that could've been, she peered on out of her room and shortly thereafter, she saw the door to Lincoln's bedroom open up and there emerged the sole boy of the Loud family. From the looks of it, he didn't seem too pleasant, but that didn't stop Luan from going up to him.

"Hey, Lincoln, was that you just now?" She asked him.

Lincoln sighed lethargically, "Yeah, I slipped out of bed."

"Slipped, huh?" Luan said, a wide grin coming across her lips, "Guess you woke up on the wrong _slide_ of the bed! Get it? Slip? Slide?"

All Lincoln did in response was to simply walk past his sister while grumbling before heading into the bathroom.

"Wow, he's certainly in a mood this morning." Luan observed, but she shrugged her shoulders, "Eh, it'll pass. Why would anyone want to be grumpy on Christmas Eve?"

* * *

A couple of hours later, everyone else in the family was awake and milled about in their own business all in anticipation for the Christmas festivities that'll kick off tomorrow.

In the kitchen, Lynn Sr. was beginning prep work for baking several batches of Christmas cookies, because after all, with a family of thirteen, one batch would hardly be enough to satisfy everyone and would inevitably lead to scuffles claiming the remnants. If there's one thing no one wants during this season, its fighting over something as petty as possession and consumption of holiday sweets.

As he gotten some things set up, Luan came into the kitchen to see what's going.

"Hey, Dad!" She said cheerily, "Merry Christmas Eve!"

"Oh, hey there, Luan! Right back at you!" Lynn Sr. gave back in kind.

"Say, what are you doing right now? I mean, I clearly see _what _you're doing, but fill me in anyway." Luan said.

"Ah, well, I'm in the process of making some of my world famous Christmas cookies." Lynn Sr. explained to his daughter, stepping aside to show what he had, "I've already got some dough rolled out and I was about to cut them up into shapes. Mind if you lend a hand?"

Luan nodded, "Sure thing. I'll make sure that they are a _cut_ above the rest!"

Both she and her father shared a laugh as Lynn Sr. got out the cookie cutters from the drawer. He claimed a pair for himself and handed some to Luan, too. The shapes that were featured included typical festive fare like Christmas trees, ornaments and snowflakes.

"You know, stuff like this takes me way back." Lynn Sr. said, "Reminds me of when I helped my dad with baking all sorts of Christmas treats, not just cookies."

"Yeah, or how about the time a few years back when I started helping you making cookies for the first time?" Luan inquired.

Lynn Sr. grinned and chuckled, "Oh yes, I remember. I believe that was also the time you poked holes underneath the bag of flour I was using, so when I picked it up, it started pouring onto the floor and myself. Admittedly, I wasn't too pleased at the time because I had to get another bag from the store, but still..."

"Ah, I don't think I was trying to do anything too over the top, Dad." Luan said, "Maybe what I was doing was _poking_ some fun at you!"

Another spot of laughter was shared between them as they wrapped up in cutting out two batches worth of cookies. Next, Lynn Sr. carefully lifted up each of the cut out portions of the dough onto a pair of baking sheets while Luan gathered up to remainder of the dough so it can be reused for additional batches.

As Lynn Sr. placed the first pair of baking sheets' worth of cookies into the oven, he looked at his daughter with an appreciative smile.

"Thanks for the assist, Luan. Baking sweets with one of my favorite sweets? Can't ask for anything more." He said, "I think I can handle the rest from here, unless somebody else comes along and wants to help out."

"Aw, you're welcome, Dad!" Luan said, giving him a hug.

After that, she went off on her merry way, seeking to find her next target in her day long mission of Christmas cheer spreading.

"Hmm, now who's next?" Luan quietly told herself.

As she was contemplating that, she passed by Lincoln right as she began going back upstairs.

"Oh, hey, Lincoln!" She greeted.

Once again, like earlier in the morning, Lincoln didn't respond too much, only grumbling indistinctly as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Huh, he's still kind of grumpy." Luan noticed, "Wonder what's up? Well, hopefully it's temporary. Maybe he just needs some space."

Arriving at the top of the stairs, Luan did see the door leading to Lynn and Lucy's room left open, where Lucy was sitting down on the floor and appeared to be conducting a séance of some sort complete with Christmas-themed candles.

"Hey there, Lucy!" Luan said upon stepping inside, "What's going on?"

"Just contacting some spirits so they can perhaps tell me what I'm getting for Christmas." Lucy answered, "I admit that's cheating in a way, but I don't think it will hurt getting any sort of hint of it."

"Um...okay, then?" Luan said hesitantly, coming closer to Lucy and sitting on her bed, "Not that I approve or anything, but any luck?"

"Sigh, no..." Lucy responded dejectedly, "Unless you count being told the usual stuff about waiting until Christmas day to see what I'll get."

The 8-year-old goth girl's unexpected desire to know what she'll get for Christmas beforehand came as surprise to Luan. This observation, however, also fit in with what she was going to do for her younger sister in her Christmas cheer spreading spree.

"Say, until tomorrow comes along, I think I know something that will brighten those _spirits _of yours." Luan expressed with a smile.

She slid off of Lucy's bed and joined alongside her on the floor. Curious as to what her older sister was going to do, Lucy put off her séance set up for now and paid her full attention to Luan.

"All right, hear it goes..."

The comedienne cleared her throat before she began speaking in a verse format.

"_My little sister, Lucy, and Christmastime,_

_You'd think such two things are so far apart,_

_But I know deep down and despite claiming not to have one,_

_This season is one that really warms her heart."_

Once she wrapped that on the spot poetic message, Luan patted Lucy on the shoulder as the latter looked on contemplatively.

"Okay, I'll admit that I'm not as well _versed _at this kind of thing as you are, but the hope is that you felt good hearing that in any event." Luan said in a hopeful tone.

Lucy gave it a moment of thought, then she smiled back over at her sister, "You know, I do. That wasn't bad at all and I think I needed to hear something like that. Thanks, Luan."

"No problem, Lucy. It's what I aim to do for everyone today." Luan said warmly, "Now, are you still going to ask those spirits of yours what you're getting tomorrow?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, I don't think so. I'll be more patient now."

"Good to hear." Luan expressed with merriment, taking her leave as well.

As she left the room, Luan took another moment in figuring out who she should go for next in terms of who she shall surprise with cheer of the Christmas variety.

She apparently got her answer when she saw Leni coming up the stairs with a handful of various supplies being hauled in her arms.

"Hey, whatcha got there, Leni?" Luan inquired.

"Oh, hi Luan!" Leni replied in a bubbly fashion typical of her, "I'm about to put together some last minute touches for a..."

Suddenly, Leni paused and started darting her eyes around like she was trying to make sure somebody wasn't listening in.

Luan looked at her older sister curiously, "Leni, what are you…?"

Now it was Luan's turn to be unable to finish her sentence, only this time with a yelp due to having Leni abruptly drag her younger sister into her room and shut the door.

"Whew..." Leni said in relief.

"Um, what was that for, Leni?" Luan asked confusedly.

Leni looked over to her sister sheepishly, "Oh, sorry about that, Luan. I was making sure Mom wasn't around to listen in."

"And why would that be?" Luan wondered, but then started to possibly get an idea once she glanced at the supplies Leni had at hand, "Wait, is that because you're making something for her?"

"Yeah, I am!" Leni answered while nodding happily, "I've been working on this cute Christmas-themed top she can wear tomorrow. Here, let me show you!"

Putting the supplies on her bed, Leni darted over to her closet and rummaged through it for a few seconds, then she pulled out the top in question and showed it off, which had a patchwork design alternating between red and green squares.

"Wow, that does look nice, Leni!" Luan said impressed, "I think Mom's gonna like it."

Leni smiled widely, "I know, right? And like I said, I need to put some finishing touches on it and it will be ready! Wanna help out since you're here?"

Luan nodded, "Sure, why not? I'll be glad to help get it _red_-y so that everyone can look at Mom wearing it while they're _green_ with envy!"

It took a few seconds for the puns to register in Leni's mind, but once she did eventually discover the association between them and the colors of the top, she did laugh a little bit.

With laughter having shared, Leni and Luan went to work together in completing the patchwork top. For the most part, Leni did the majority of the actual work in placing and sewing in a couple remaining patches, while Luan's share involved picking out the material for said patches and handing over whatever else Leni needed on top of that.

Only about fifteen minutes later, things wrapped up and the top was complete. Leni was overjoyed with the results that she squealed in delight and turned to Luan in order to give her a hug.

"Thanks for your help, Luan!" Leni said full of mirth.

Luan chuckled lightly and returned the hug, "Aw, shucks, it was nothing."

Seconds into their hug, their attention was turned to the door when they heard someone knock on it and open it up slightly afterward as Rita peered in.

"Oh, there you are, Leni, I was looking for you." She said before also noticing her fourth oldest daughter also in the room, "Luan? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, Mom!" Luan responded, putting on an innocent, facetious smile, "What are_ you_ doing?"

"I've been looking all over for a set of ribbons that I'm planning to use for decorating the Christmas tree with." Rita explained, "I've asked everyone else where they went, so I though I check in with Leni and..."

Right as she was speaking, Rita noticed the pile of supplies on Leni's bed, and among them were those very ribbons she'd been looking for.

"Oh, there they are!" She said relieved, "Let me just grab them and I'll be out of your way."

As Rita stepped fully inside the room, Leni tried to her best to hide the top she made behind her back, lest her mom see it and spoil everything. However, the manner in which Rita went over to get the ribbons did cause her to catch a glimpse.

"What do you have there, Leni?" She asked her second oldest daughter.

"N-n-nothing, Mom!" Leni said, her nerves going haywire.

"No, I do think I saw something in your hands." Rita said more intently, "What is it?"

"Mom, I'm telling you, I don't have anything like a top I've been working on for y-" Leni was saying, then stopping herself short, "I mean, nothing!"

Luan shook her head and sighed, "Leni, you basically more or less spoiled everything right in front of her, so you might as well show it."

Letting out a long sigh of her own, Leni reluctantly gave in and presented the top to her mom.

"What is this?" Rita asked curiously, taking it into her hands.

"It's a top that I made for you to wear on Christmas, but now that I've spoiled for you. I'm so sorry..." Leni answered with a whimper.

The fashionista lowered her head down in shame, while Luan attempted to give her some assurance by placing a hand on her shoulder. However, as disappointed Leni was, though, her mother was actually delighted.

"Aw, it's okay, Leni." Rita told her comfortingly, "I think it looks wonderful. Mind if I try it on?"

Leni lifted her head back and started looking a little more hopeful, "Sure, I guess."

With a grin on her face, Rita slipped the top around and over her, then she went over to the vanity within the room to check how it looked from multiple angles. If the ever growing smile showed anything, she was in love with it.

"Wow, this looks amazing on me!" She said jovially, looking back over at Leni, "And you made this all by yourself?"

"Yeah, but Luan actually helped out a little bit just now, too." Leni mentioned, now having a smile of her own.

"Aw, well in that case, thank you both, girls." Rita said gratefully, pulling both her daughters into a hug.

A few seconds spent in the hug later, Rita pulled away and immediately afterward she took off the top, folded it up nicely and carried it under her arm.

"Wait, you're already taking it off?" Leni wondered, sounding a little worried.

"Oh, don't worry, Leni. I'm just keeping it nice and tidy until tomorrow so I can wear all day then like you wanted me to." Rita replied, "But again, thank you so much. This was really sweet of you."

With that exchange, Rita took her leave with both the top and the ribbons she had found, leaving both Leni and Luan be for the moment.

"Well, I gotta get going myself, so..." Luan had begun saying before she felt herself being hugged again by her older sister.

"Thanks again for your help, Luan!" Leni said with a beaming smile.

Luan let out a soft chuckle and briefly hugged Leni back before finally leaving the room. Upon doing so, she sighed happily as her Christmas cheer spreading mission was going spectacularly well, having done stuff for or alongside with over half of her family so far. The fact that it was still only morning made it all the more impressive.

"Seven down, five to go." She noted to herself before stretching her arms, "I could get things wrapped up right about now, but I think I deserve a couple hours worth of a break..."

* * *

Almost three hours later, with the time now just after noon, Luan was back in high gear with her mission to spread Christmas cheer among her family.

She headed downstairs and upon arriving at the bottom, she couldn't help but notice Lincoln in the living room sitting in one of the chairs playing a handheld video game of his. She noticed that he still had something of a down look to him, and as much as Luan wanted to check up on him, she chose to still give him space like she did before and pressed onward.

Before going on, though, she did catch a wondrous aroma coming from the kitchen, likely the scent of freshly baked cookies. Luan followed the scent and saw both her father and Lori in the kitchen together.

"Hey, thanks for your help, Lori." Lynn Sr. said.

"No problem, Dad." Lori said in return, though there was a bit of saddened tone in her voice.

Turning around and leaving, Lori walked right past Luan, not even so much as acknowledging her, making Luan get slightly worried about her oldest sister's demeanor.

"Huh, now Lori's also not in a good mood, too?" She observed, "Maybe I should go check up on her."

Making her way fully into the kitchen, Luan's arrival caught the attention of her father.

"Oh, hey there, Luan!" Lynn Sr. said, "Just wrapping up the last batch of Christmas cookies. It's been a lot of work, but I think it's worth it. We have enough to last us until the end of the year!"

Luan looked on and couldn't disagree at all with his assessment of things. Aside from a lone baking sheet with about a dozen of them on, the rest of the cookies that had been made beforehand were sitting in a pair of large bowls.

"Wow, that's a lot, Dad! You certainly went all out this year." Luan expressed with an impressed whistle, "You know, if you really wanted to, you could sell some of these and knowing how great they'll taste, you'll make a bunch of _dough_ from them!"

Lynn Sr. ushered in some laughter, "Heh, good one, sweetheart!"

However, this scene would be interrupted by the sounds of shouting between two temperamental forces upstairs.

"Lana, would you stop it already?!"

"Why don't you try making me?!"

"Oh dear, what are those two arguing about this time?" Lynn Sr. wondered with an annoyed sigh.

He was about to investigate what his twin daughters were bickering about, only for Luan to stop him.

"Hold up, let me try seeing what's going, Dad." She offered to do.

"Oh, uh, all right then. Thanks." He said in response.

Luan turned around and was about to head on up, but paused and went over to grab a handful of cookies from one of the bowls.

"These might help out. Six-year-olds and sweets tend to go hand-in-hand." She said.

With the cookies at hand, Luan went on her way. She made it upstairs and then went up to the door that lead to Lana and Lola's room, where cacophonous arguing and scuffling can be heard from the other side.

Forging knocking, since they probably wouldn't hear it anyway, Luan opened the door to make her presence know to her younger twin sisters and right away went into stern big sister mode, which even she of all people can activate on a moment's notice.

"Hey, what's going on here?" She asked them.

"Lana keeps trying to get into the closet so she can try to sneak peeks at the presents I'm giving her!" Lola explained angrily.

Lana shook her head, "Nuh-uh! I was only gonna shake them so I can guess what's in there!"

"Like that's any better!" Lola shot back.

"C'mon, it's not that big of a deal!" Lana said, trying once more in going to the closet.

"Oh, no you don't!" Lola shouted, lunging after her fellow twin.

With that, another scuffle started between them. Rolling her eyes in frustration, Luan figuratively and literally put her foot down.

"All right, you two stop it _right now!"_ She said with a furor uncommon with her.

Right away, Lana and Lola ceased their latest twin fracas, taken aback by their older sister's strong words. However, she let out a deep breath and gave them a smile.

"Now, with that out of the way, I think what might help you two settle down would be a couple of these..."

She extended her hands out and presented the twins with the cookies, which caused their eyes to light up.

"COOKIES!" They both shouted as they reached to retrieve them, only for Luan to pull them away.

"Ah, ah, ah…" She tut-tutted, wagging her index finger, "First, you two need to apologize to each other, and Lana, you must promise Lola that you'll wait until tomorrow to see what she'll give you."

Following their sister's advice, Lana and Lola looked at each, their faces full of realization and regret.

"I'm sorry, Lana..." Lola said first.

"And I'm sorry, too, Lola..." Lana replied, "And I promise to wait until tomorrow for you to give me my presents..."

After their apologies, they hugged one another.

"That's more like it." Luan said, handing them both a cookie each, "Here you go."

The twins each claimed their cookie and didn't waste any time munching on them, "Thanks, Luan!"

With another two family members made happy, Luan left them alone and closed the door to their room.

Right as she stepped out of the twins' room, once again she found herself bumping into Lincoln, who was carrying his handheld gaming system with him and was about to head into his room.

"Uh...hey there, Lincoln." Luan tried saying to him.

Lincoln sighed, but did respond, "Hey..."

Luan approached her brother closer and attempted to have him face her, but he resisted gently.

"Lincoln, I don't mean to bother you or anything, but is there something wrong?" She asked him concernedly, "I've noticed you look like you are upset about something all morning."

"Luan, I'm fine..." Lincoln said with mixture of listlessness and annoyance.

He turned the knob to his bedroom door and opened it. Luan looked on sadly at Lincoln, but then realized she still had a couple of cookies with her and had an idea.

"Want a cookie?" She offered to him.

Lincoln looked over to his sister, "No, I don't think so."

With that answer, he closed the door, while Luan stood in place for a few moments. She was really starting to get worried about her brother, but again, she didn't want to press him about what was going on if he really didn't want to.

Luan sighed and then started to walk away, but then she heard the door opening and saw Lincoln peering out.

"Wait..." He said simply.

He reached out his hand gently. Luan didn't need another hint as to what he was suggesting. With a little smile, she handed him one of the cookies she had, then he closed the door again.

"Maybe that will help him feel a little better..." Luan said softly.

Leaving him alone for the time being while also eating the remaining cookie she had, Luan refocused her efforts and knew who she wanted to induce some cheer to this time around. Heading across the hall, she went toward Lori and Leni's room again, this time voluntarily unlike what happened earlier with Leni, and knocked on the door.

"Hey, Lori, are you in there?" Luan asked.

No response came for a few seconds initially, but after a long sigh could be heard, an answer can along.

"Yeah, but I kind of want to be literally left alone right now, Luan." Lori responded from the other side.

"Come on, Lori, please?" Luan pleaded, "I saw you looking sad earlier and maybe I can help out. Please?"

Another drawn out few seconds came and went, but eventually, the eldest Loud sibling relented.

"Okay..."

Finally, Luan opened the door and came inside, where she saw Lori sitting in the middle of her bed in a scrunched up position.

"So, what's going on, Lori?" Luan asked as she joined over to her oldest sister's side.

Lori sighed sadly, "Well...I guess I'm feeling just a bit sad over the fact that I'm not able to see Bobby right now because he's spending Christmas with his extended family. Sure, we still talk here and there, but it doesn't feel the same with us being apart..."

Yet another sigh came out of Lori's mouth while she hugged her knees and as that happened, Luan scooted closer to her and placed an arm around her older sister, which in turn caused Lori to instinctively rest her head along Luan's shoulder. For a little while they maintained this setup between them, but then Luan had an idea.

"Wait, I'll be right back." She said.

She let go of her sister and headed out of her room for just a moment. Meanwhile, Lori buried her face into her knees and even once Luan returned mere moments later, she still stayed that way. She did, however, hear something crinkling around and being placed on top of her head.

"Luan, what are you doing?" Lori wondered.

Without saying anything else, Luan ushered Lori up from her bed and guided her over to the vanity mirror, where she noticed that her younger sister had put on a trio of Christmas present bows on her hair, something she often did in Christmases past after opening her gifts and occasionally those belonging to others, too.

"Uh...why did you..." Lori attempted saying.

"Because I do_ bow_-lieve you needed something to perk you up!" Luan interjected with some laughter, then she got more earnest_,_ "But seriously, I get that you're sad about not seeing Bobby this time of year, but shouldn't it also matter that you are surrounded by a loving family who's right by your side whenever you need them, not to mention you are something of a _gift_ to them?"

It took a few more seconds, but Lori did crack a little smile on her face after those kind words and the silly, yet nonetheless sweet gesture sunk in. For Luan's efforts, she brought her into a hug.

"Thanks, Luan." Lori said sincerely, "I do kind of feel better now, even if the bows might've been literally a bit over the top."

"Hey, it is the Christmas season after all!" Luan countered with, "It's all about being over the top, even in times when you want to be there for a sister in need."

Lori couldn't help but chuckle, "I guess that can be the case."

After a little while more, Lori released Luan from her hug and allowed her sister to head on out.

"All right, just two more to go." Luan said to herself, "One's gonna be a challenge, but for now..."

Her train of thought was interrupted when she saw Lynn making a mad dash up the stairs and straight to her room. Curious as to what the fuss might be about, Luan ventured over to her athletically-inclined sister.

"Hey, Lynn, what's the rush?" She asked.

"Not right now, Luan!" Lynn replied hastily, throwing her winter clothes on, "There's so much fresh powder outside and I'm sick of having to wait for someone to share it with!"

Luan turned her head curiously, "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Finally, Lynn did take a moment to pause and explain everything, "What I mean is that for some weird reason no one else wants to go outside and take advantage of the conditions! Heck, not even Lincoln was willing to join me cause of some funk he's in."

Being reminded again of Lincoln not being in the best of moods caused Luan to once again be worried about him. But for now, she'll work more on that later and figured she might be of assistance to Lynn in this case.

"You know, I'm not doing anything right now, so why don't I come along with you?" She offered up.

"Wait, you would?" Lynn questioned.

Luan nodded, "Sure! If you're in need of a partner, playmate or what have you, there's _snow_ way I could pass that up!"

Lynn groaned lightly at that pun, but still was heartened by the suggestion, "Oh, well...great! Thanks, Luan!"

With that made official, Lynn finished up in getting her winter attire applied on and bounded down the stairs before rounding around the kitchen and out the back door. Meanwhile, Luan took a moment in getting her own winter clothes on and followed along the same path Lynn took outside.

"So, what did you want to..."

She couldn't finish her sentence because she was greeted with a face full of a round ball of fallen, fluffy, frozen precipitation. She wiped said stuff off and saw Lynn with a sly, sadistic grin on her face in the middle of the backyard.

"So...may I hazard a guess as to this being the reason why no one wanted to come along with you?" Luan questioned.

Lynn shook her head, "Nah, I didn't tell anyone what I wanted to do outside. But...anyone who _was_ foolish enough to take up my offer was gonna be in for a _ball_, you could say."

Luan let out a derisive chuckle, "Really? That's your sad excuse of a pun?"

"What? Is it really that much worse than '_snow_ way I could pass that up'?" Lynn fired back playfully.

"All I'm saying is that you should be like a bowler and stay within your _lane_!" Luan returned fire verbally.

"Oh, really?" Lynn said cockily, "You mean like _this_?"

She scooped up another ball of the snow variety and chucked it in her sister's direction, but Luan had the wherewithal to duck from it this time, resulting in a "thwap" as the white spherical concoction landed against the wall of the house.

"Be careful what you wish for, little sis." Luan said in a humorously dark tone, "Because you better _snowball_-lieve I'm coming for you!"

And with that rather forced pun began a protracted, yet fun-filled snowball fight between the Loud family's two resident ponytailed brunette teens, with much laughter and a few more playful barbs and puns thrown in between the flying circular rounds being lobbed. At one point amid the snowy chaos, Lynn did actually lose track of Luan, but then became quickly aware of her presence once she felt her older sister dump a whole blob of snow right on her head. As the comedienne got a jovial kick out of that, the jock retaliated by tackling her sister and playfully wrestled her to the ground.

"Okay, okay, I give!" Luan said through hysterical laughter.

After doing a mock pinfall on Luan and counting to three, Lynn stood up and threw her arms up in the air, yelling triumphantly and imitating a raucous, cheering crowd. Once she got her gloating out of the way, she let herself flop back first onto the snow and sighed contently.

"I take it you had fun, Lynn?" Luan asked as she rose up and got back to her feet.

At first, Lynn only responded through consistent giggling. But as Luan helped brush some snow off her head and assisted in standing back up, she had a more sincere way of putting things.

"Yeah, I did." Lynn replied with a warm smile, "And I really do want to thank you for this, Luan. Truthfully, it did feel frustrating when no one else was interested in joining me outside at first, so I'm glad you did. I really needed this in the end."

To follow that appreciation with action, Lynn hugged her older sister and like with other hugs throughout the day, Luan returned the favor.

"You're welcome, Lynn. It's my aim to please those who mean the most to me like I've been doing all day long." She said gratefully.

* * *

Another three hours later, the time now 3:00 PM, Luan relaxing inside her room laying in bed. She decided to give her another break after her wild snowball fight and all-around fun outdoor frolic with Lynn earlier on, which was full on deserved. Thus far, eleven members of her family had been bestowed with yuletide cheer and her mission was nearly complete.

There was but only one remaining holdout until completion can truly be achieved, but Luan also knew it would be her most challenging yet.

Of course, she knew the holdout was Lincoln, who still was feeling pretty down even well into the afternoon. In the time that since passed, she tried asking him again what was wrong, but as with previous attempts, he still kept shutting himself out.

Since those failed attempts at discourse, Luan had been trying to figure out something, _anything_, that would have any hope in brightening her only brother's mood.

And then, like a metaphorical pie to the face, it hit her.

"Duh! Why didn't I think of that sooner?"

She sprang out of her bed, grabbed a few accessories from earlier and headed back over to Lisa and Lily's room, where she knew her baby sister had been recently napping.

Right as Luan arrived, Lily was seen in her crib stretching and yawning having just woken up.

"Hey, Lily, how do you feel like giving out an encore performance?" Luan asked her littlest sister.

After putting on the reindeer antlers and nose on both herself and Lily, Luan picked the baby up into her arms and went on downstairs, where she found Lincoln in the living room sitting on the couch. As happenstance would have it, Luna was also on the opposite end of the couch, so a two-for-one deal was in the cards.

"Hey, Lincoln! I think I know just the thing to pick yourself out of that sour mood you've been in!" Luan said determinedly, "And Luna, since you're here, too, you can listen in as well since I know you wanted to hear this earlier."

"Ooh, rad!" Luna expressed merrily, "This oughta be good!"

As for Lincoln, he didn't say much, but he did turn toward Luan and Lily's direction to see what they had to offer.

"Okay, Lily, like this morning…" Luan explained again.

She inhaled and exhaled, then she recited again the yuletide jingle that got even Lisa in a festive mood.

"_We wish you a Merry Christmas,_

_We wish you a Merry Christmas,_

_We wish you a Merry Christmas..."_

"An a appy oo ear!" Lily uttered out happily.

"Yes, nailed it again, Lilster!" Luan said proudly.

She looked over and right away she can see the awestruck expression Luna had on.

"Whoa, that was sweet!" She said impressed, "How'd you get Lily to do that? I've tried to have her belt out a little something whenever she's with me as I'm jamming and all I've gotten out of her is rhythmic gibberish."

"Well, it probably helped that I only taught her that last line over and over again these past several days." Luan explained, giving Lily a little tickle, "And it appears all that hard work payed off!"

"I'll say!" Luna agreed before turning her attention over to Lincoln, "Hey, what did you think of that, bro?"

Lincoln shrugged softly, "Eh, I guess it was okay."

"'Just okay'"? Luna wondered in bewilderment, "Are you for real, dude?"

"Yeah, I'd thought for sure this would do something more for you, Lincoln." Luan said, sounding very disappointed.

"Guys...I just don't have time for this right now, okay?" Lincoln said with a long sigh.

After also uttering a groan, Lincoln stood up from the couch and once more made a path up the stairs to his room, the door being shut somewhat hard.

"Dang, what's with him?" Luna wondered worriedly.

"I have no clue, Luna." Luan responded, feeling at a loss, "He's been like this all day and I've tried talking to him, but no matter what, he either won't say much of anything or claim he's doing fine."

"Yeah, that last part is _definitely_ not true." Luna said, "I'd go up and ask him what's up right now, but based on what you've said, I may not have any better luck than you've been having."

Feeling lost at what to do, Luna and Luan both sighed sadly, and their moods wouldn't be made any better when they heard Lily sniffling.

"Inky?" She babbled tearfully.

"Oh, Lily..." Luan lamented gently as she held her baby sister closer to her, "Don't worry, we'll find out what's wrong with Lincoln, I'll guarantee you that. No way I am gonna let him be this way for much longer, especially this time of year."

* * *

_**And with that, part one is in the books. The second part will come sometime on Christmas day. That's all I have to say after leaving you with that rather sad cliffhanger, so see you then for the conclusion of this!**_


	2. Helping the Holdout Before Christmas

_**Hello! Depending on what time zone you're living in, I hope you are about to, are in the middle of or have wrapped up having a wonderful Christmas. Me, you ask? Oh, I'd say me and my new OnePlus 7T are doing quite swimmingly. But enough about me, here's the second and final part of my seasonal offering. **_

_**Before we go any further, though, there's something I should clarify and really should've mentioned somewhere in the first part. Depending on how you want to look at it, this story either pretends the events of "11 Louds a Leapin'" don't occur or instead this story takes place in its own separate universe, but either way, the Santiagos are still living in Royal Woods and haven't moved out yet. I say that because when Lori mentioned she misses Bobby in the first part, he's only spending Christmas with the Casagrades and will be coming back home soon thereafter. Hope that clears things up in case anyone was confused.**_

_**Anyway, let's not dwell any further and see how things close out together!**_

_**The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.**_

* * *

The time for the Loud family's annual Christmas Eve feast had arrived. A mouthwatering smorgasbord was present on the table as Lynn Sr. placed the final touches all around while everyone was gathering and taking their seats.

"All right, fam, let's dig in!" Lynn Sr. declared.

With that, dinnertime proceeded as planned. Various topics of discussion were brought up as well, ranging the gamut from rave reviews and kudos of Lynn Sr.'s cooking, to what everyone wanted for Christmas and also wishes, goals and aspirations for the coming new year. But the topic that really dominating the discourse were all the nice and pleasant things Luan did throughout the day for her family, praising her for efforts of lighting up each of them and the household with her Christmas cheer. Though she was very appreciative of their kinds words of thanks on the surface, internally she felt like it might all be for nothing due to the very down mood Lincoln still seemed to be in that kept her worried.

Speaking of which, Lincoln contributed almost nothing to the discussion, only adding occasional weak statements affirming simple questions like if he was enjoying the food or if he was looking forward to the Christmas festivities tomorrow. Few, if anyone at all, were willing to broach the issue of what could possibly be keeping him so glum, until one bold soul took that route.

"Um, Lincoln?" Lynn Jr. spoke up, "Not that I want to make you uncomfortable or anything, but what's been going on? Why are you being so quiet? Also, how come you didn't want to join me outside in the snow? 'Cause if you ask me, you of all people would've jumped on such a chance."

"I didn't feel like it, Lynn. Simple as that." Lincoln responded with a hint of annoyance.

"Well, what about when you barely reacted to Luan and Lily's rockin' little jingle?" Luna added.

"Last I checked, I do recall saying that it was okay. That's not exactly 'barely reacting', Luna." Lincoln said, still getting more annoyed.

For another awkward minute or so, no one else tried saying anything else.

"Lincoln, clearly something's upsetting you." Rita said, "Please, can't you tell us?"

"Mom..." Lincoln grumbled.

"Son, come on, now..." Lynn Sr. said.

"Dad…"

"Lincoln, you don't need to act like this." Lori told him a hint more firmly, "We're literally trying to reach out to you in any way and one way or another, something's got to give within you."

"Lori, please..."

"But, Lincoln…" Lucy tried to say.

"No, Lucy..."

"Lincoln!" Lola shouted impatiently.

"Can it, Lola!"

"Lincoln, don't talk to her like that!" Leni said discontentedly.

"Give me a break, Leni!" Lincoln shouted back, now just being full on angry as he slammed his fist on the table, "You know what's going on with me? You wanna know what's the big deal? Nosy sisters and parents who can't take a hint and drop everything, already!"

He buried his hands into his face and let out a strained, muffled scream. His family looked on in complete horror. Rarely had they seen the lone boy of the Loud clan seem so frustrated and out of it. Once again, awkward silence permeated the dining room.

Finally, Lincoln sighed heavily and looked back up to his family, "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have gone off like that. But please, can you respect my wishes and not bring this up anymore? That's all I ask..."

It took a little while longer, but things did slowly return to normal, if a little more tense across the board. Dinner carried on until the end and as soon as Lincoln was finished with his, he asked to be excused and was granted such a request immediately.

"Honey, what can we do about Lincoln?" Rita asked her husband worriedly.

"I wish I knew the answer to that..." Lynn Sr. admitted, feeling defeated and as lost as his wife.

Similarly, most of the girls shared likewise lamentations about their brother's condition and feelings of helplessness.

However, one young lady who had been on a mission all day long wasn't going to sit by and take defeat.

"You know what, guys, let me handle this." Luan said, sitting up from her chair and brought forth a determined look on her face. "As we've discussed, I did everything I can in order to spread Christmas cheer to you all, and I'm not going to stand here much longer in seeing Lincoln in his gloomy state. No one cannot, or certainly shouldn't, have to feel that way with Christmas coming in just a few hours from now. So if you can, give him a little more time to himself and I'll do whatever it takes to help him out."

Thought not responding with words, the rest of the family all had encouraging smiles at the end of Luan's determined statement. They can only hope that whatever she'll do will finally break the gloom that overcast Lincoln's being both outside and within.

* * *

By the time 9:00 in the evening rolled along, most everyone had returned to their own business or were making last minute preparations for Christmas. But the one thing they didn't do was bother Lincoln and simply let him be, just as Luan had suggested they do as she planned to handle things herself. In her mind, the fact she noticed his dispiriting state of being the most out of anyone today made it her own personal goal to help him out, on top of fulfilling her day long Christmas cheer spreading spree.

At this moment in time, Lincoln was sitting alone in the living room with TV remote at hand, while Luan was observing from just beyond the dining room. She carefully approached him and joined alongside him on the couch.

"Hey, Lincoln, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing." He said flatly.

"Huh, doesn't seem like you're doing nothing. Are you trying to find something to watch?"

"Nah."

As Lincoln aimlessly channel surfed, Luan smiled a little as she thought a touch of humor might get him going.

"How do make sure that your water is above being cold?" She posited to him, "Simple, you make sure that it doesn't get _below _freezing!"

She laughed for a moment, but Lincoln didn't budge at all, not even so much as a tiny chuckle or the slightest curl of his lips. Then again, upon immediate review, it was hardly the best of her jokes she could come up with in the moment. She sighed and realized she had to take things head on.

"Lincoln, hand me the remote." Luan said to him.

Lincoln turned to face his sister and after a couple of seconds, he shrugged and did as she requested. But as soon as she had the remote in her possession, she turned the TV off, much to her brother's chagrin.

"Hey, I thought you were going find something to watch yourself!" Lincoln said slightly peeved.

"No, that's important right now." Luan told him, putting the remote on the coffee table, "Lincoln, I know you're not in the best of moods..."

Lincoln groaned, "Oh, not this again, Luan..."

"Please, just listen to me and-" Luan tried saying.

"Luan, I thought we went over this at dinner!" He shouted, cutting his sister off, "How many times must I say it? I don't want to talk about it and that's final! Do you hear me? Final! Done! Finished! No. More. Talking. About. It!"

He took a couple deep breaths upon ending his rant. Next, he reached for the remote again and resumed flipping through the channels with no real end game in sight.

Again, Luan wasn't sure what to do. No matter how she approached him, Lincoln was still refusing to open up and his resolve of not doing so only seemed to further hardened with every instance. For the briefest of moments, she thought about overruling his refusal to speak by invoking the fact that she's one of his big sisters and can demand anything out of him, but she chose not to. She really wanted him to discuss things on his own accord as opposed to forcing it out of him, but clearly he still had no intention of talking at all.

Feeling she exerted all she could, Luan sat up from the couch and sighed.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about it, Lincoln, that's your choice." She said, turning away from him and walking away.

However, as she began going up the first couple of stairs up to the second floor, she looked back at him one more time.

"But if you do want to talk, you know where I am, right?"

Lincoln did not answer her, only keeping his sights on the TV and his directionless track of flipping through the channels. Luan sighed again, shaking her head as she went upstairs.

* * *

An hour later, it was bedtime all around the Loud house. The youngest of the sisters had already gone to sleep earlier, while everyone else was having their preparations for their own times for rest until tomorrow morning for the official start of Christmas, so knowing that, it may be difficult for everyone to get some sleep

However, for Luan's case, it'll be hard for her to any sleep on a whole different front. Her repeated attempts at trying to talk to Lincoln about whatever was bothering him had failed at every turn. She tried one last ditch effort while both happened to be in the bathroom brushing their teeth, but to no avail, almost predictably so.

As Luan sat on the edge of her bed, she sighed sadly, hating the fact that with only two hours until Christmas Eve was over, she failed at getting everyone into the Christmas spirit due to Lincoln being in the mood he's still in.

Meanwhile, Luna had come on in, having finished her bedtime preparations. She was just about to climb the ladder leading to her top bunk bed, but taking a glance over at Luan and how saddened she looked made her stop for a moment.

"You doing all right, Luan?" She asked.

Luan shook her head, "No, not at all to tell the truth, Luna."

Hating to see her younger sister like this, the rocker approached the comedienne, sitting down next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I take it you're feeling really unhappy about not being able to wrestle Lincoln out of his deep blue funk, huh?" Luna wondered.

"Yeah, that's putting in mildly." Luan answered, her voice getting a little strained as she rested her head along Luna's shoulder, "I feel like such a failure, both as a sister and for not being able to give everyone Christmas cheer today because of him being the holdout."

Luna reached her other arm around Luan to bring the latter into a hug. Luan didn't bother responding to the gesture in a similar manner, only settling for turning her face more further into her older sister's shoulder and sighed into it.

"Aw, hey now, you're not a failure at all, sis." Luna softly said, "You may have not gotten our little bro out of the doldrums of despair he's in, but that shouldn't take away from all the sweet things you've done today. Maybe what Lincoln needs is just a nice round of Z's and by tomorrow he'll probably be in a little better mood, especially knowing he's surrounded by a loving fam and all those prezzies he'll get."

Following a little more time within Luna's arms, Luan gently pulled away and tried her best in giving a little smile.

"I hope you're right, Luna." She said, but a frown came along, "But it really does hurt me inside to see Lincoln like this."

"Same hear, brah. But I have a feeling he'll overcome this sooner rather than later." Luna expressed confidently, patting her sister's shoulder.

Feeling like she gave Luan sufficient enough reassurance, Luna sat up and climbed up onto her bed, while Luan undid her ponytail, shook her hair around a little and got underneath the covers of her own bed as well. She really hoped that her sister was right about what she said about Lincoln.

* * *

Just only one hour later in evening, things appeared quite in the abode of Loud. Except for one person, that is.

Rolling around her bed and grunting lightly, Luan sat up and released an annoyed sigh.

She got out of bed, exited her room and headed for the bathroom.

After taking care of her business, she was about to return to bed, but something caught her eye. Looking at the other end of the hall, she could see that the door to Lincoln's bedroom was left somewhat ajar. Curious as to why that's the case, she made her way down the hall and gently knocked on.

"Lincoln?" Luan said very softly.

She didn't get a response, so she opened the door some more and looked inside. Much to Luan's surprise, Lincoln wasn't inside, causing yet another spate of worry within her.

Luan tried wondering where her brother could be at this hour, so she decided to head downstairs and see if he was around somewhere. As she was traveling down there, she could see the soft, incandescent glow of the lights around the Christmas tree in the living room being the only thing adding light within the darkness.

It was also with the help of those lights shining through that Luan could see Lincoln laying down on the couch, too.

Quietly, she arrived at the bottom of the stairs and ever so carefully approached her brother. The closer she got, Luan noticed some concerning details. Lincoln appeared to be asleep, but he was also shivering lightly and soft whimpers were coming out of his mouth.

Questions starting flooding into Luan's mind as she frowned at this sad sight. Why was Lincoln down here in the first place? Why was he shivering and whimpering? Was he cold? Was he having a nightmare? Whatever the case, she really wanted to know right now.

Sitting down on the couch, Luan ever so gently reached her hand out and touched his shoulder. That little bit of contact alone was enough for Lincoln's eyes to open up suddenly, raise right on up and started breathing heavily.

"Hey, Lincoln, it's okay, it's just me." Luan said, trying to calm him down while placing her hands on his shoulders.

Lincoln looked over to indeed see that Luan was the one who woke him up. His breathing got gradually slower as he tried calming himself down.

"Luan?" He uttered after taking another moment in steadying himself, "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking _you_ that, Lincoln." Luan said back, "Why are you down here all by yourself with the Christmas tree lights on?"

Lincoln groaned slightly, "I don't know...I guess I was having a hard time sleeping, so I came down here and relaxed with the lights on hoping they might soothe me to sleep because I've been feeling really sad and-"

As soon as he uttered the word "sad", Lincoln stopped himself, almost like he didn't want to admit that out loud. He whimpered as he brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them.

While he did that, Luan looked on with increased concern. Unlike earlier instances where she saw him look more listless, blank or grumpy, seeing and hearing him straight up admit that he was sad tore at her heartstrings. If there was ever any time for him to finally open up, it had to be now.

"Lincoln, do feel like you want to talk now?" Luan offered, if not outright insisting he should.

It took a little bit more time, but Lincoln looked at his sister and at long last, he gave an answer more hopeful than before.

"Maybe?" He said hesitantly, "But I'm not sure how comfortable I am about it..."

Luan had a little grin on her face. "Maybe" was still a lot better than the constant denials and refusals throughout the day. Then, she had an idea that might make it easier for him to talk.

"Wait right here, I'll be right back."

She sat up from the couch and left him alone for a moment. As he awaited for his sister's return, Lincoln glanced back over at the Christmas tree lights, trying in that he hoped they'd give him some kind of comfort like he intended earlier before dozing off.

A minute or two later, Luan returned to her brother's side, now bearing a couple glasses of milk plus a small plate containing a few Christmas cookies that she placed on the table.

"Nothing that the classic seasonal pair of milk and cookies can't help in perking you up, right?" She said in a hopeful tone.

She sat back down next to her brother, push one of the glasses of milk closer to him and handed him a cookie. After a moment of hesitation, Lincoln took the cookie into his hand and started eating it, also getting a sip of milk in the process while Luan did the same for both.

"So, do you know why you've been sad?" She asked after another brief period of silence.

"No..." Lincoln replied quietly.

"No? Well, maybe we can go over some possibilities." Luan suggested, "Was there something bad that happened at school before Christmas break?"

Lincoln shook his head "no".

"Hmm, did you have a really bad fight with one of our sisters that I don't know about and haven't resolved yet?"

Again, Lincoln shook his head in denial.

"It isn't that?" Luan wondered, taking a moment to think of something else, "Are you worried you might not get what you want for Christmas?"

Thrice in a row, Lincoln shook his head against that possibility after he started eating another cookie and drank some milk.

"Oh, I think I know..." Luan said teasingly, "You miss Ronnie Anne, don't you?"

"No…!" Lincoln finally responded verbally, just a hint annoyed at that suggestion, "I mean, I do kind of miss her, but it'll only temporary since she'll be back after Christmas."

"Well, if it isn't even that, you're kind of stumping me here then, Lincoln." Luan admitted, taking another sip of her own milk, "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"No..." Lincoln said.

Luan let out a sigh, "Come on, Lincoln, don't give me that. There's gotta be-"

"No, you don't get it, Luan!" Lincoln expressed more assertively, "I don't have any clue at all why I'm sad!"

Luan was taken aback by that suggestion, "Wait, what do mean?"

"I mean just that! I have been feeling like this for practically no reason at all!" Lincoln reiterated.

For another moment, silence dominated the room, and as that happened, Luan was taking in what she just heard. All this time when Lincoln was feeling down, there's was no concrete reason at all for it? She wanted to know more.

"So, if don't know _why_ you're sad, can you at least tell me _when_ you started feeling that way?" She asked.

"For like a week, maybe even two?" Lincoln answered somewhat tentatively.

Luan gasped, "Two weeks?! And you never said or shown anything until recently? Why not?"

Lincoln sighed, "Because what's the point of talking about being sad if you have no clue at all why you're like that in the first place?"

"Well, talking can still help, you know?" Luan responded, "And all honesty and in spite of how you personally feel, why would you be sad on what should be the happiest time of the year?"

"You don't think I understand that?" Lincoln questioned, his voice getting slightly more strained, "You don't think I know that I should be in a jolly mood at this time of year, but can't because of some dang persistent bout of sadness coming over me that I don't know where it came from and can't shake it?"

Luan reached over and put her hand on his shoulder, "No, I get that, but I must ask again. Even if don't know why you're sad, how come you never talked to anyone about it?"

Lincoln struggled to maintain his composure as he tried to explain things, "Because who wants to deal with someone like that during Christmas? Who wants their holiday wrecked by dealing with some kid who can't articulate what's bothering him? Who wants to-"

"_I _would, Lincoln, _I_ would!" Luan interjected compassionately, now having both hands on her brother's shoulders, "I would've gladly done so and everyone else in our family would, too! Why would you ever think differently?"

That did it for Lincoln. Just about two weeks of holding in a mysterious, painful bout of sadness unknown in origin was about to come cascading downward, but not without a final fight to prevent it.

"Luan...I...I'm..."

The struggle failed and finally, Lincoln let two weeks worth of tears begin to fall. Without further hesitation on her part, Luan did her part by bringing him over to her and tightly embraced him. Secure in his sister's arms, he didn't hold back in sobbing into her shoulder.

There was more that Luan wished she could say to Lincoln, but for now, she held off and simply allowed her brother to let everything out. She thought it was best for him to have this release before anything else could be said. All she did in the interim was hold on to him and occasionally rub his back a little.

After close to ten minutes, Lincoln was finally calming down enough. Luan let go of him and thought another cookie would help as she handed him one. He accepted it, took a moment to eat it, then had little more milk to go along with it and finally took a nice, long deep breath.

"Lincoln, I want you to understand something..." Luan began saying, taking her brother's hand into her own, "Listen, I know it can be scary to feel sad and not know that cause of it. I think everyone feels like that at least a few times in life, even me. Yes, even us clowns can feel sad for absolutely no reason at all and we can be sad for some pretty silly reasons, too."

She chuckled slightly and if she heard correctly, so did Lincoln, too, even if it was barely audible. Even so, every little step had to count in him getting back on the right track.

"But I'll get straight to the point. If you're ever sad, no matter what time of year it is and no matter if you know why or not, you should never hesitate in coming to me or anyone else in our family. We may not always nail down exactly what causes sadness within you, but it's much better to be by your side when you are feeling that way as opposed to holding it in and feeling miserable for longer than you should be." Luan wrapped up in a very heartfelt manner.

For the first time all day long, Lincoln allowed what was the smallest grin on his face to form. Though he felt like something of a fool for dragging out his inner emotional pain for longer that he should have and knew better than to keep it hidden, having been reminded that he was surrounded by loving, caring family members who'd be there for him, such as the one before him who took her time well into the late evening to reiterate that devotion, was making him relieved.

His grin got a slight bit wider before he lunged forward to give Luan a big hug, so much so that it ended up knocking her back first onto the couch, but not that she didn't mind such zeal. Knowing that her brother was in any way starting to feel better was all that mattered.

For another moment or two, both Luan and Lincoln laid in position on the couch together, but eventually they had to head back to bed. Luan was just about try getting up, even with her brother snug up against her, but a glimpse of his face showed he was fast approaching going to sleep right here and now.

"Heh, those milk and cookies must have really done you in, huh?" She said.

"That, and maybe all that crying, too." Lincoln responded sleepily, chuckling mildly.

Seconds later, Lincoln completely dozed off. Luan laughed as she put her arms around her brother, beginning to feel quite sleepy herself. Maybe staying down here together wasn't going to be such a bad idea after all.

But just as Luan was going to enter slumber, she heard the characteristic creaking of someone coming down the stairs.

"Luan?"

She just about turned her head enough to see Luna gradually coming down the stairs.

"I didn't see you in your bed and wondered where you've been, so I..." Luna was saying.

In response, Luan brought her index finger to her lips and softly shushed her older sister, then gestured with her head a little downward. Luna wasn't exactly sure at first what her younger sister was doing, but once arriving at the bottom of the stairs and coming closer, she saw Luan with Lincoln comfortably in her arms and things started becoming clearer.

"Huh, what happened here?" Luna asked barely above a whisper.

"Had little late night treat with Lincoln...and a talk as well." Luan replied just as gently.

"Wait, you got him to talk?"

"Mm-hmm. He's been sad for almost two weeks."

"Two we-" Luna said a little louder than intended before covering her mouth and trying again more quietly, "Two weeks? About what?"

"He doesn't know, apparently." Luan responded, a little sadness returning in her voice, "But still, he opened up to me and he does seem better, even if just a little."

Thought a little unsure how to take in the idea of her little brother being sad for such a while and not knowing why he was, it was at least enough of a relief for Luna hearing that he was able to talk with Luan about it.

Sitting on the edge of the coffee table, Luna smiled as she took in the scene of her two younger siblings snuggled together.

"Gotta say, the little dude looks adorable like this." She said with a giggle.

She reached over and ever so gently grazed her brother's hair with her fingertips. This soft touch, however, would be just enough for Lincoln to stir awake.

"Luna?" He muttered upon seeing her.

"Oh, sorry about that, bro." She said apologetically, "Didn't mean to rock you out of your slumber."

"That's okay..." Lincoln replied, yawning afterwards and turning over to Luan, "Maybe we should head off to bed."

Luan smiled, "Sure, sounds like a plan. Wanna finish your milk at the very least?"

With a small nod in the affirmative, Lincoln slowly lifted himself up and drank down the last little bit milk that was left in his glass. Luan did the same for her own, too, although there was good deal more in her glass than Lincoln's, so she basically all but chugged it down.

"Not bad downing that much in one go!" Luna couldn't help but remark with a chuckle.

"Hey, no sense in wasting good milk, or crying over it for that matter regardless if it's spilled or not." Luan commented, also with her own chortle.

As Luna had a smirk on her face, she turned to notice there was at least one cookie left on the plate.

"You dudes called this one yet?" She asked, point over to the holiday confection in question.

"Nah, go right ahead." Luan answered, "That'll give me a reason to put these away."

While Luna claimed the last cookie for herself and ate it, Luan picked up the empty glasses and plate to put them away in the kitchen. It also allowed Luna to have a quick little moment with Lincoln.

"So, how are you doing right now, bro?" She asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Better, a little bit at least..." Lincoln said drowsily, "Sorry, Luna...wish I could talk more...just so tired..."

"Hey, it's cool, Linc, I get it." Luna said understandingly, give him a brief one-armed hug, You don't need to give me the rundown of everything right now. As long as you're doing even the slightest bit better, it's all good."

Smiling slightly, Lincoln gently rested his head on Luna's shoulder as he looked close to falling asleep again. At the same time, Luan returned and walked past them both.

"Let me get the lights and we'll all head on back up." She said, looking back at Luna, "You know, Lincoln was down here at first because he was using the lights in trying to soothe himself. Glad to see he tried something to _brighten_ his mood."

Luna released a stifled chuckle, while Lincoln didn't really say much, being all but out in his seat. Meanwhile, Luan unplugged the lights and glanced over back to her siblings.

"All right, ready to head back to bed, Lincoln?" Luan asked him.

He didn't responded, only little snoring sounds gently coming from his mouth.

"It's all right, I got him." Luna affirmed.

She gently put one arm under her brother's legs and lowered the other down to just below his shoulders before standing up and hauling him with her.

With Lincoln in Luna's arms and Luan following behind, the three of them headed up the stairs, but just before Luna would turn to her right towards Lincoln's room, she felt Luan put a hand on her shoulder.

"Actually, on second thought, bring him to our room." She suggested.

With a nod and a smile, Luna changed course and brought their brother over to their room while Luan closed the door behind them.

"In your bed, I'm guessing?" Luna wondered in terms of placing Lincoln.

Luan nodded, then she went over and pulled to covers down, allowing Luna to placing down Lincoln on the end of Luan's bed closer the wall.

"He looks pretty cozy, so I won't bother him with any good night kisses or anything like that." She said, then turning over to Luan, "But you on the other hand..."

She put an arm around her younger sister and gave her a quick kiss on her check.

"From one big sis to another, I don't know what you specifically talked with him about, but whatever you did, I'm glad he did finally open up to you and is seemingly a little better because of it." Luna expressed, proud of her sister for doing so, "Looks like you did succeed in bringing everyone in our fam Christmas cheer after all."

Luan smiled softly, "Yeah, I guess I did."

Sharing a quick hug between each other and exchanging "good nights", Luna climbed back up to her bed while Luan got into hers, pulling the covers over herself and Lincoln before she started drifting away to sleep.

However, she noticed that Lincoln was briefly again shivering like she had found him doing when she first came downstairs. As a way to alleviate whatever was causing it, Luan reached out and gently pulled him close toward her, replicating a similarly snug position they were in on the couch just minutes earlier.

Within seconds of this action being taken, Lincoln did begin settling down and subconsciously leaned closer against his sister. In turn, Luan kissed his forehead and again started getting back to sleep.

"Merry Christmas, Lincoln..." She whispered.

* * *

As morning arrived in Royal Woods, Lincoln groaned lightly as rolled around in bed, just not his own as he'll quickly learn.

Blinking his eyes momentarily, he checked his surroundings and did realize he was laying in Luan's bed. At first he was clueless as to how he got here, though after some careful thinking, he did seem to faintly recall hearing Luan saying something about having him brought to her and Luna's room while the latter was carrying him.

Sitting up and stretching, Lincoln checked around some more and also noticed Luan wasn't around and nor was Luna in her bed when he stood up and looked there. He stepped out of their room and saw that the hallway was stunningly sparse and free of noise, too. He took advantage of the situation to use the bathroom that had no line filing up for it.

Taking care of that business, Lincoln was about to head over to his own room for a brief moment, but then he could hear some faint voices coming from downstairs.

"Oh, he's up!"

"Quick, get into position!"

"Places, everyone!"

Curious as to what's going on, Lincoln travel down the stairs, and halfway down he was greeted by a most wonderful surprise of seeing his family gathered together with Luan and Lily prominently featured up front and yet again in their reindeer antlers and red noses.

"All right everyone, hit it!" Luan declared.

"_We wish you a Merry Christmas,_

_We wish you a Merry Christmas, _

_We wish you a Merry Christmas"_

Right as the third line was sung, Luan lifted Lily up in the air and the littlest one took it from there.

"An a appy oo ear!"

"Merry Christmas, Lincoln!" His family shouted in conclusion.

Lincoln had a beaming smile on his face, "Wow! Was that for me?"

"Of course it was!" Leni said exuberantly so, "We've been waiting for you for, like, the last half hour or something like that!"

"We hope that this plus the general spirit of Christmas would help make you feel any better...I mean on top of what Luan did for you last night, that is." Lori added, turning to her sister in question and smiling.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind that I told everyone, Lincoln." Luan said somewhat embarrassed.

"No, that's fine, Luan." Lincoln assured her as he arrived at the bottom of the stairs and joined his family.

"So are we understanding this right in that you don't know why you were feeling sad and that you felt that way for about two weeks, son?" Lynn Sr. questioned.

Lincoln sighed a little, "Yeah, that's true, Dad, and on that note, I'm really sorry that I've never said anything sooner and been pushing you all away for most of yesterday. As I'm sure Luan has told you, I didn't want to wreck your enjoyment of the holidays with my own issues, although in a sense maybe I did during my blow up at dinner last night, which again I want to apologize for."

"Ah, don't sweat it, Linc." Lynn Jr. said, coming over and lightly jabbing his shoulder affectionately, "We understand it can be hard sometimes to talk about things that really bother us."

"Yeah, but don't ever worry about letting us know if you are feelin' blue, okay, little bro?" Luna added, also joining alongside him and patting his back.

"Oh, I won't, I'll promise you all that." Lincoln said affirmatively, "Though still, I wish I could have even the slightest clue as to what's been causing all this in me in the first place."

"Actually, if you'll indulge me for a moment of your time, I can posit a potential hypothesis to your prolonged lugubriousness." Lisa spoke up.

She stepped forward from her family and approached her older brother.

"Lincoln, are you at all familiar with a condition known as seasonal affective disorder?" She asked him.

"You know, I think might've heard of it." Lincoln said, stroking his chin contemplatively, "I seem to recall Clyde mentioning it once recently, though I don't know if he's said anything about having it himself. Can you tell me more?"

Lisa gave a quick nod and proceeded, "It's a condition in which those who are largely of good mental and emotional standing suffer from bouts of depression every year during a specific season, typically winter in most generalized cases. Those affected can usually show symptoms such as overeating, having very little energy and sleeping more often."

"Hmm...interesting. There could be something to that. Have you been thinking about that for a while now, Lisa?" Lincoln wondered.

"Actually, I only came that potential possibility upon hearing one very crucial detail from Luan." Lisa clarified with an adjustment of her glasses, "She claimed that when you came down to these living quarters late last night that you were seeking something of comfort from the luminescent decorative that gently adorn our yearly tree signifying the season. Oftentimes those with seasonal affective disorder, or 'SAD' as it's so aptly abbreviated, use what is know as 'light therapy' as a form of treatment, although typically more powerful, specialized devices colloquially referred to as 'light boxes' are more commonly used."

For a moment, Lincoln took in what his genius younger sister had presented to him and at first, he thought that could be the case. However, some things weren't adding up.

"Well, now that I think about it, maybe that's what's been going on, but I have to wonder about a couple of things." He began, "While I can admit to be lacking in energy these past several days, I'm not so sure about those other two symptoms. I don't think I've been overeating, not even last night, and my sleeping patterns haven't been too different, either. Plus, I've never felt sad during previous winters, because I'm usually very happy when that time comes along, so that doesn't really make sense, too. So I don't know..."

He shook his head a few times, sighed and then groaned.

"Ugh, this is so confusing! Why can't I figure this out? I-"

"Lincoln, calm down." Lori said in an easygoing way and getting down to his level, "Maybe you shouldn't be worrying so much about this right now. Instead, what's literally more important is being with your family on this occasion and again knowing we'll be there whenever you're feeling down."

Following a moment to regroup, Lincoln took a deep breath and gave his oldest sister a smile.

"Okay, Lori. I think you're right." He said, sounding a bit more joyful.

"That's more like it, dude." Luna added, giving a light mussing of his hair, "Say, you wanna have first dibs on the presents?"

"Nah, you guys go right ahead. I can wait." Lincoln replied.

"Ooh, ooh! Let me go first then!" Lana said excitedly, "I've been dying to know what Lola's gotten me!"

While the tomboy twin rushed over to the presents under the tree, Lincoln went over and took a seat on the couch. As he looked on the scene before him, he glanced over to his mom and saw the new article of clothing on her.

"Hey, looking good, Mom!" Lincoln told her, "Did Leni make that for you?"

Rita smiled at her son, "Oh, thank you, Lincoln! And yeah, she did, though she also said Luan helped out a little, too."

Upon hearing the name of his fourth oldest sister, Lincoln had a big smile on his face. He glanced over to her next, still with Lily in her arms.

"Hey Luan, I can handle Lily for a bit if you like." He offered to do.

"Oh, sure." Luan said in response.

As she came over to her brother and handed their youngest sister to him, he leaned over and whispered to Luan.

"Thank you so much for what you did last night, Luan." He said very appreciatively.

"Anytime, Lincoln." She responded with equal appreciation.

After a soft kiss on his cheek, Luan left Lincoln be with Lily while she returned her attention to the now increasingly chaotic scene of presents being unwrapped. At the same time, Lincoln looked at Lily with her little antlers and nose, chuckling at this adorable sight.

"Inky!" She babbled.

Lincoln smiled and gently hugged her, "Merry Christmas to you, too, Lily."

While watching on the merry scene of his family, Lincoln was feeling more relieved than he has been in a long time. Thought he still wishes he could find a definitive cause for his saddened state that was gripping him, he could put that aside for the time being and focus on what's most important, namely the family whose always by his side and he'll never take that for granted, no matter the season or the mood he's in.

As for Luan, she shared another brief look with Lincoln and sighed contently. Her mission to spread Christmas cheer was complete and nothing in the world made her happier than that.

* * *

**_Well, there you have it! Now, normally this would be the part where I'd say "I'll see you soon" or something to that effect, but I'm actually not so sure right now. There's an equal chance I could upload one or maybe two more stories in the coming days, or perhaps this'll be the last one until the new year. Either way, I've got a whole ton of stuff in the works or in the beginning stages for the year ahead of us and no matter what, I'll see you then!_**

**_Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!_**


End file.
